BC Press: An amphibian cry for help

[Herp News]

PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN (British Columbia) 30 July 09 Letter: An amphibian cry for help (Mark Thompson)
The July 5 column titled "Crying wolf leads to carbon overload” by UNBC professor Todd Whitcombe contains errors. It is also unfortunate that Dr. Whitcombe links the plight of amphibians to environmental hyperbole.
While I agree with Whitcombe that “the environmental movement is prone to hyperbole and irrational responses,” eco-illiteracy is more damaging and his column is a case in point.
Whitcombe says links between chemicals and abnormal development in frogs “is not what the science has to say.” Peer reviewed articles in scientific journals (e.g., Science & Nature) report otherwise. For example, Atrazine, a common pesticide in the U.S. and Canada, is a potent endocrine disruptor that chemically castrates and feminizes frogs. A recent book on the topic, “Extinction in our Times: Global Amphibian Decline” describes the relationship between pollutants, disease, parasitism and declines.
Amphibians are normally highly abundant in wetlands and forests where they eat algae, bugs and insects. They are energetically efficient and function as ecological conveyor belts moving energy and nutrients through food webs. Amphibians are global regulators of vast supplies of carbon stored and cycled through the forest soils where they live.
A 2005 declaration by the IUCN Species Survival Commission states that global amphibian declines are “unlike anything the modern world has previously experienced.” They call on all levels of government, corporations, civil society and scientific community to respond with unprecedented action.
I am the president of a non-profit society called NAMOS BC (Northern Amphibian Monitoring Outpost Society; www.namos.ca) that is responding to the amphibian crisis by researching the problem locally and by organizing community monitoring and awareness projects.
Amphibian declines are a local and global issue. Populations adjacent to UNBC are threatened by land development. Forest practices, bioenergy, disease and pollution are provincial threats.
Addressing amphibian declines concurrently tackles climate change, global carbon cycles and, a more pressing issue for life on earth, extinction. Solutions are identified by understanding, recognizing and prioritizing the scope of environmental problems through the lens of ecological literacy.
Mark Thompson, Prince George
http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/2...-for-help.html